Paris,
Tuesday, 8 May, 2024
McCreadie Andias
Borussia Dortmund have become the first team of the season to book their place in the Champions League final after producing a resolute display to beat PSG 1-0 in Paris and seal a 2-0 aggregate victory.
“The aim isn’t to win by two goals, but to win’’ was Luis Enrique’s warcry to his PSG outfit pre-game, and they looked every bit the side capable of overturning their first-leg deficit and setting foot at June’s showpiece final in Wembley after dominating the opening exchanges.
Achraf Hakimi led the charge down the right-hand side as he bombarded the Dortmund defence with crosses aimed towards the lethal Kylian Mbapp, who looked to creep in behind from the left wing.
The German visitors, under fire from the cauldron of Parisian noise, battened down the hatches but were almost undone shortly after the half-hour mark when Mbappe dribbled past three defenders before Ousmane Dembele skied over from close range.
Dortmund were by no means bystanders in a fast-paced first half though, with a golden chance falling to Karim Adeyemi, who could only shoot straight at Gianluigi Donnaruma when set free on goal.
Looking to follow in Pep Guardiola’s footsteps by winning a treble with two different clubs, Luis Enrique must have fired up his team in the interval as they came out full of hunger in the second half.
Warren Zaire-Emery should have put PSG in front when the ball bounced kindly to him from just six yards out, but he inexplicably sliced his shot onto the post with the baying home faithful gasping with disappointment.
With the visitors ducking PSG’s constant hooks, it took a BVB legend to flip the script on the contest, with Mats Hummels nodding in emphatically from Julian Brandt’s corner-kick to double Dortmund’s aggregate lead.
Shocked by Hummels’ hammer blow, the hosts went straight on the offensive and Nuno Mendez saw his wonderful effort from the edge of the box strike the post – the 12th time PSG hit the woodwork in the UCL this campaign.
It was total lockdown in the Borussia rear-guard in the final stages, knowing that their best chance of a clean progression was to now preserve what they had. Thanks to Mbappe and Vitinha seeing late efforts strike the crossbar in a one-sided finale, they did just that.
Now Dortmund can but wait to find out the identity of their final opponents, with potential vengeance over Bayern for their 2013 final defeat – coincidentally suffered at Wembley Stadium – being something that will certainly whet the appetite.